Tourisme Montréal Blog » movieshttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 21:34:27 +0000en-UShourly1Music, Food & More Outside at Marché Des Possibleshttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/music-food-more-outside-at-marche-des-possibles/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/music-food-more-outside-at-marche-des-possibles/#commentsWed, 16 Jul 2014 15:48:22 +0000Robyn Faddenhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/?p=77905This summer, Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood – known for its fresh-out-of-the-oven bagels, laid-back cafes and a significant population of musicians and artists – celebrates summer in its own eclectic style with the addition of Pop Montreal’s Marché des Possibles outdoor market… The Marché des Possibles, open Fridays to Sundays from July 11 to August 31, packs the small, tree-filled park at the corner of St-Dominique and Bernard with all kinds of fresh local food, homegrown fashion and art, a beer garden featuring local brews, and on-stage entertainment for the whole family, curated by the good people of Pop Montreal music festival. Yet for all its activity, the Marché maintains a relaxed community-focused atmosphere, perfect for picnics and lounging with friends, day and night. (creative eating) It’s easy to go where the locals go and eat what the locals eat at the Marché des Possibles. Not only does the park represent a meeting place for neighbours, but the addition of food trucks and produce from local farms makes it a destination for anyone seeking out new culinary creations. Every weekend, sample the offerings of some of the city’s best mobile food makers, cooking up everything from gourmet poutine, sandwiches and hotdogs to ice... / Read More →

This summer, Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood – known for its fresh-out-of-the-oven bagels, laid-back cafes and a significant population of musicians and artists – celebrates summer in its own eclectic style with the addition of Pop Montreal’s Marché des Possibles outdoor market…

The Marché des Possibles, open Fridays to Sundays from July 11 to August 31, packs the small, tree-filled park at the corner of St-Dominique and Bernard with all kinds of fresh local food, homegrown fashion and art, a beer garden featuring local brews, and on-stage entertainment for the whole family, curated by the good people of Pop Montreal music festival. Yet for all its activity, the Marché maintains a relaxed community-focused atmosphere, perfect for picnics and lounging with friends, day and night.

(creative eating) It’s easy to go where the locals go and eat what the locals eat at the Marché des Possibles. Not only does the park represent a meeting place for neighbours, but the addition of food trucks and produce from local farms makes it a destination for anyone seeking out new culinary creations. Every weekend, sample the offerings of some of the city’s best mobile food makers, cooking up everything from gourmet poutine, sandwiches and hotdogs to ice cream, fruit smoothies, espresso and crepes. And, like any good open-air food destination in the city, the Marché adds local beer to the menu.

(Montreal makers) If you’re shopping for something uniquely Montreal, the Marché’s vendors might just have what you’re looking for – find one-of-a-kind, high-quality products from Montreal designers, artists and craftspeople, all in one place. Summer dresses and screen-printed t-shirts complement jewellery, leather handbags and other accessories, while organic perfumes and handmade soaps occupy tables next to cuddly children’s toys, hip home decor and poster art. Not only is almost everything made in Montreal, but artists are on hand to talk about their work.

(live entertainment) Every evening, the park lights up with performances, film screenings and presentations, while every day brings activities fit for kids and adults alike. On the evening of July 18, see films presented by the RIDM documentary festival, and on Saturday starting at 11am do gymnastics, AcroYoga and learn African dance – Sunday adds a flamenco workshop to the mix. On Friday, July 25 local bands Saxsyndrum and Hua Li keep things hopping and Saturday afternoon features painting and filmmaking workshops, while experimental films screen at night. The music on August 1 comes courtesy of the Mutek music festival, and, as with most weekends throughout the summer, Saturday and Sunday host music workshops for kids, yoga sessions, dance lessons and more during the day and a variety of great music at night. For the full schedule of entertainment see the Marché des Possibles site.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/music-food-more-outside-at-marche-des-possibles/feed/0Inspiration at the International Festival of Films on Arthttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/inspiration-at-the-international-festival-of-films-on-art/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/inspiration-at-the-international-festival-of-films-on-art/#commentsThu, 13 Mar 2014 20:31:33 +0000Robyn Faddenhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/?p=65430Art comes alive on screen as film fans and art lovers converge during the 32nd International Festival of Films on Art, March 20 to 30 at the Montreal Fine Arts Museum, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and numerous venues around the city… The International Festival of Films on Art features 270 films from 34 countries on a range of artistic subjects: painting and sculpture; dance and theatre; music and literature; comic books and graphic design; architecture, fashion, and even the art of cinema itself. Alongside the film screenings, see art exhibitions and installations, listen to roundtable discussions and participate in master classes with art and film experts. Opening the festival is Dutch director Boudewijn Koole’s short film Off the Ground, pairing a mime artist with a choreographer, and Quebecois director Raymond St-Jean’s feature Une chaise pour un ange, a collaboration with Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen that explores the furniture design, architecture and music of the Shakers, an American religion sect. In visual arts, films look to the past in explorations of the lives of Quebecois painter-sculptor Armand Vaillancourt and recently passed acclaimed Canadian painters Fernand Leduc and Alex Colville, as well as contemporary masters Georges Braque, Lucian Freud and Picasso,... / Read More →

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Art comes alive on screen as film fans and art lovers converge during the 32nd International Festival of Films on Art, March 20 to 30 at the Montreal Fine Arts Museum, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and numerous venues around the city…
The International Festival of Films on Art features 270 films from 34 countries on a range of artistic subjects: painting and sculpture; dance and theatre; music and literature; comic books and graphic design; architecture, fashion, and even the art of cinema itself. Alongside the film screenings, see art exhibitions and installations, listen to roundtable discussions and participate in master classes with art and film experts. Opening the festival is Dutch director Boudewijn Koole’s short film Off the Ground, pairing a mime artist with a choreographer, and Quebecois director Raymond St-Jean’s feature Une chaise pour un ange, a collaboration with Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen that explores the furniture design, architecture and music of the Shakers, an American religion sect.

In visual arts, films look to the past in explorations of the lives of Quebecois painter-sculptor Armand Vaillancourt and recently passed acclaimed Canadian painters Fernand Leduc and Alex Colville, as well as contemporary masters Georges Braque, Lucian Freud and Picasso, the mystery of Chicago nanny and prolific photographer Vivian Maier, and in Tomomi Nagasawa’s Secrets of the British Museum: Ancient Greece Rediscovered. And the present comes to the fore in Chercher Ferron about visual artist Richard Ferron, Patrick O’Connor’s look at graffiti artist subculture in Freights, Geneva Guérin’s Montreal-based Van Horne & Waverly, and more. And past meets present in 3-D architecture documentary Le Défi des bâtisseurs – La Cathédrale de Strasbourg and Niels-Christian Bolbrinker’s Fagus – Walter Gropius and the Factory for Modernity, and in digital-literature investigation Google and the World Brain.

Opera appears in Patrice Chéreau: Le Corps au travail and The Perfect American, János Darvas’s look into showcases Philip Glass’s latest opera. In dance, Sylvie Collier’s To Dance Like a Man follows three young brothers, triplets in fact, and their dance studies at the National Ballet School of Cuba, while Le Vertige de l’étoile discovers the world of Canadian choreographer-dance Guillaume Côté, Marie Chouinard – Le Sacre du Printemps celebrates The Rite of Spring, European Parliament inspires directors Ana Cembrero Coca and Jorge Piquer Rodriguez in their dance film Europe Endless, and Fabrice Herrault pays tribute to Nuryev. And in music, hear more about how Piaf’s tumultuous life inspired her songs in Philippe Kohly’s Édith Piaf Amoureuse, how British composer Benjamin Britten’s pacifism influenced his life and work, how Mexican ranchera singer Chavela Vargas finds inspiration in poet Federico García Lorca, and how Jimi Hendrix worked his guitar magic live on stage.
Films studying cinema itself also abound at the festival: David Teboul’s Bardot, la méprise peers into the life of the legendary actress Brigitte Bardot; Andreas Pichler’s L’Affaire Pasolini looks into the mysterious murder of the famed Italian filmmaker; Dans l’œil de Luis Buñuel reveals more about the pioneering avant-garde filmmaker; European horror film takes the spotlight in Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss; while Il était une fois… La Dolce Vita focuses on the success and scandal of Fellini’s film, and John Ford at Monument Valley takes us into the wild-west settings of Ford’s films. The latest in experimental art film also has a home at FIFA: curator Nicole Gingras selects 56 Canadian films and videos, including work by artist Jan Peacock; new animation by Julie Doucet and Diane Obomsawin; curator Karl-Gilbert Murray’s Identity Constructions: Queer Stories features six films by Toronto artist Peter Kingstone; along with much more by Canadian and international artists.

Among its special events programming, this year the festival pays homage to producer Alan Yentob, Creative Director at the BBC, featuring films such as Chris Rodley’s Andy Warhol and films on David Bowie, Werner Herzog, William Burroughs and Orson Welles, as well as a master class taught by Yentob. At art exhibitions staying open throughout the festival, see the work of Philipp Gasser (at Place des Arts’s Salle d’exposition), BD QC (at Place des Arts’s ARTVstudio), Pierre Hébert and Jan Peacock (both at Cinémathèque québécoise). The festival also expands to include screenings at the 360-degree dome at the SAT: Michel D.T. Lam’s Harmonielehre about American composer John Adams’s work; Ernesto Páramo’s In Escher’s Universe, about Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher; and the documentary Kraftwerk – Pop Art by Hannes Rossacher and Simon Witter. And for the third year in a row, the festival features a series of films chosen specifically for children, including film Cendrillon dans la forêt enchantée accompanied by a music workshop by Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/inspiration-at-the-international-festival-of-films-on-art/feed/0Quebec on Screen at Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois 2014http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/quebec-on-screen-at-rendez-vous-du-cinema-quebecois-2014/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/quebec-on-screen-at-rendez-vous-du-cinema-quebecois-2014/#commentsMon, 10 Feb 2014 22:21:56 +0000Robyn Faddenhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/?p=62673For 32 years, film festival Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois has shown us Quebec through the eyes of those who know the culture best and turn it into cinematic art. This year’s festival, February 20 to March 1, screens over 300 new films, from big-budget features to experimental shorts, shown at several centrally-located cinemas, including the Cinematheque Québécoise and the Grande Bibliothèque… Miraculum, the newest film from Quebec director Podz opens the festival on a human-drama note, interweaving the lives of a nurse, electrician and a plane crash survivor, an older couple striving for happiness, a younger couple mired in disillusion, and a man trying to “repair the irreparable.” Some of Quebec’s best known stars populate the cast, including Xavier Dolan, Marilyn Castonguay and Gabriel Sabourin. Closing the festival is Simon Beaulieu’s Miron: un homme revenu d’en dehors du monde, a meditation on poet Gaston Miron, using archival footage and Miron’s words to paint a picture of the artist and his concerns with his culture. Among the many premiers at the festival comes Denis Côté’s Que ta joie demeure, a critical and creative look at workers and the workplace, Jean-Sébastien Lord’s L’ange gardien, about a night watchman and his odd relationship with a... / Read More →

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For 32 years, film festival Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois has shown us Quebec through the eyes of those who know the culture best and turn it into cinematic art. This year’s festival, February 20 to March 1, screens over 300 new films, from big-budget features to experimental shorts, shown at several centrally-located cinemas, including the Cinematheque Québécoise and the Grande Bibliothèque…

Miraculum, the newest film from Quebec director Podz opens the festival on a human-drama note, interweaving the lives of a nurse, electrician and a plane crash survivor, an older couple striving for happiness, a younger couple mired in disillusion, and a man trying to “repair the irreparable.” Some of Quebec’s best known stars populate the cast, including Xavier Dolan, Marilyn Castonguay and Gabriel Sabourin. Closing the festival is Simon Beaulieu’s Miron: un homme revenu d’en dehors du monde, a meditation on poet Gaston Miron, using archival footage and Miron’s words to paint a picture of the artist and his concerns with his culture.

Among the many premiers at the festival comes Denis Côté’s Que ta joie demeure, a critical and creative look at workers and the workplace, Jean-Sébastien Lord’s L’ange gardien, about a night watchman and his odd relationship with a pair of would-be thieves, and Patrick Boivin and Olivier Roberge’s Bunker , the story of two soldiers stuck in a nuclear missile silo in the middle of Quebec. See more lauded Quebec cinema at screenings of five feature films in the running for this year’s Jutra awards (the Jutras are Quebec’s equivalent to the Oscars, to be televised March 23): Nathalie Saint-Pierre’s Catimini, Sébastien Pilote’s Le démantèlement, Frédérick Pelletier’s Diego Star, Louise Archambault’s Gabrielle and Daniel Roby’s Louis Cyr: l’homme le plus fort du monde. Short films precede almost every feature presentation in the program, including innovative animation, slices of local life, avant-garde dance documentaries and more.
The festival also celebrates director and actor Micheline Lanctôt as this year’s Jutra-Hommage winner, and filmmaker Robert Morin as the 2013 Prix Albert-Tessier laureate – see his newest feature film 3 histoires d’Indiens, set among the lives of three people living on an Aboriginal reserve in Quebec,as well as last year’s Les 4 Soldats. RVCQ also pays special tribute to two politically-inspired documentary filmmakers who recently passed away, leaving behind a legacy of important work: Arthur Lamothe and Michel Brault.

In the midst of hockey season, the sport makes an appearance at the festival as film group Il était une fois les Boys turns a cinema bar into 1960s Quebecois tavern to watch the Canadiens play the Detroit Red Wings on February 26. And a February 28, hear local bands Monogrenade, Jesuslesfilles and Les momies de Palerme, featured in Thomas Griffin’s doc Je suis dans un band. Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois also pairs up with winter festival Montréal en Lumière and all-night-party Nuit Blanche on March 1, featuring free screenings, including must-see cult Quebec film Elvis Gratton, performances by rock band We Are Wolves, and more activities throughout the night.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/quebec-on-screen-at-rendez-vous-du-cinema-quebecois-2014/feed/0A New World of Documentary Film at RIDMhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/a-new-world-of-documentary-film-at-ridm/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/a-new-world-of-documentary-film-at-ridm/#commentsTue, 05 Nov 2013 15:28:28 +0000Robyn Faddenhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/?p=54108With over 135 films from more than 40 countries, the 16th annual Montreal International Documentary Festival, November 13–24, tackles a diversity of timely and contentious topics – from war and revolution to media and art – while also leaving space for seemingly small stories with big hearts. Along with film screenings, the festival hosts discussions with directors to get deeper into the issues many of the films raise, and parties and other events to keep everyone talking… (world-class film) The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) opens on a revolutionary note: Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim’s The Square, a front-line account of the first anti-Mubarak protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in 2011 to the fall of Morsi this past summer. On the other end of the documentary spectrum, and the other end of the festival, Quebec filmmaker Annie St-Pierre closes RIDM with Fermières, an affectionate look into the lives of women farmers group Cercles de Fermières du Québec. The festival’s competition for Best International Feature pits 12 films against each other, including: Joaquim Pinto’s E agora? Lembra-me, a year in the filmmaker’s daily life enduring clinical trials to treat the effects of HIV and hepatitis C; Algerian filmmaker Narimane Mari’s poetically activist... / Read More →

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With over 135 films from more than 40 countries, the 16th annual Montreal International Documentary Festival, November 13–24, tackles a diversity of timely and contentious topics – from war and revolution to media and art – while also leaving space for seemingly small stories with big hearts. Along with film screenings, the festival hosts discussions with directors to get deeper into the issues many of the films raise, and parties and other events to keep everyone talking…

(world-class film) The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) opens on a revolutionary note: Egyptian filmmaker Jehane Noujaim’s The Square, a front-line account of the first anti-Mubarak protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in 2011 to the fall of Morsi this past summer. On the other end of the documentary spectrum, and the other end of the festival, Quebec filmmaker Annie St-Pierre closes RIDM with Fermières, an affectionate look into the lives of women farmers group Cercles de Fermières du Québec. The festival’s competition for Best International Feature pits 12 films against each other, including: Joaquim Pinto’s E agora? Lembra-me, a year in the filmmaker’s daily life enduring clinical trials to treat the effects of HIV and hepatitis C; Algerian filmmaker Narimane Mari’s poetically activist Haricots rouges; Mia Engberg’s semi-fictional autobiographical love story Belleville Baby; and Sylvain George’s Vers Madrid (The Burning Bright) chronicling the indignados movement in Spain.

The Canadian feature competition highlights Abenaki filmmaker and activist Alanis Obomsawin’s Hi-Ho Mistahey, John Walker’s environmentalist film Arctic Defenders, Helene Klodawsky’s focus on two Montreal artists searching for security in Come Worry With Us!, Alexandra Sicotte-Lévesque’s The Longest Kiss (À jamais, pour toujours), a portrait of Sudanese life after civil war, and many more.

(special presentations) Some of the world’s best-known documentary filmmakers appear at the festival as well. Retrospectives respect influential forces in documentary film such as Franco-German filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, Quebec’s Michel Brault and Arthur Lamothe. Among new films, Frederick Wiseman’s At Berkeley reveals the effects of budget cuts on education at the American public university, while Avi Mograbi travels the Middle East in search of his estranged grandfather in Dans un jardin je suis entré, and Cannes winner L’image manquante by Rithy Panh revisits tragedies of Cambodian history through his own life story. Overlooked street photography gets its due in Finding Vivian Maier, and Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction presents a portrait of the much-loved character actor.

Environmental issues come to the fore in major new Quebec films Sans terre, c’est la faim (No Land No Food No Life) by Amy Miller and Jean-Nicolas Orhon’s Bidonville, an exploration of the world’s shantytowns, as well as in Big Men, about the petroleum reserves in Ghana, and in Cloudy Mountains, portraying asbestos miners in China. And a new section at RIDM this year, Beat Dox, features music-related films such as Bloody Daughter, about classical pianist Martha Argerich, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble doc Brothers Hypnotic, a biography of electro-folk songwriter Rae Spoon, My Prairie Home.(free and interactive) While film screenings dominate the focus of RIDM, the festival also features social activities and public events that bring film fans together in different ways. Beginning November 8, the festival teams up with Quartier des Spectacles on outdoor screenings at Saint-Laurent metro station (corner of St-Laurent and De Maisonneuve). The Kino-Pedals audio-visual installation, equipped with a giant screen and six sets of pedals that activate film projectors, asks viewers to choose from a selection of 15 short films, from new productions to National Film Board classics, selected by Daïchi Saïto, a filmmaker and programmer from Montreal’s Double Negative Collective.(party time) Head indoors for free parties and live music almost every night of the festival at RIDM headquarters (3450 St-Urbain). Filmmakers, film fans and music lovers unite on opening night for a live show by Passwords, How Sad and DJs Commando and Tinsoldierman. Among the many other parties: on November 14, Montreal’s roller derby community rallies around the premier of local film Derby Crazy Love; on November 20, POP Montreal presents local bands UN, Petty Sweat and Jef Barbara along with the premier of film The Punk Singer (about feminist icon Kathleen Hanna); on November 21, local media outlet Cult MTL welcomes CTZNSHP and Blue Diamond; and on November 22, the M for Montreal festival gets us dancing with DELUXE, Technical Kidman and Seoul. And true to Montreal style, a dance party brings festival crowds together one last time to close out the festival on November 23.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/a-new-world-of-documentary-film-at-ridm/feed/0MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FILMS ON ART 2013http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreal-international-festival-of-films-on-art-2013/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreal-international-festival-of-films-on-art-2013/#commentsThu, 14 Mar 2013 15:43:18 +0000Robyn Faddenhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/?p=9052Art in all its forms fills the big screen this month at Montreal’s International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA), with 250 new films from 30 countries, all uniquely covering creative endeavours from painting to architecture, dance to design… Six different film-screening sections make up the 34th edition of FIFA – Competition, Horizons, Tribute, Media Arts, Focus on the 7th Art, and Time Recaptured – alongside a variety of special events, including an International Market conference, a Children’s Screening, activities at cultural hubs such as the Montreal Fine Arts Museum, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the PHI Centre, and, fittingly, art exhibitions such as Diane Obomsawin’s animated Zon’Arts, Gerald Fox’s multimedia work, Ed Pien’s video installations, a tribute to Jan Peacock, and more. The festival’s opening night brings questions of artistic censorship into the spotlight with Jill Nicholls’ documentary The Fatwa – Salman’s Story, which looks at the complex cultural and political background to the death sentence and exile of author Salman Rushdie, while music is the stuff of closing night’s Road Movie, A Portrait of John Adams, an in-depth portrait of the well-known and played American composer. Between these different bookends are films that are often as artistic... / Read More →

]]>Art in all its forms fills the big screen this month at Montreal’s International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA), with 250 new films from 30 countries, all uniquely covering creative endeavours from painting to architecture, dance to design…

Six different film-screening sections make up the 34th edition of FIFA – Competition, Horizons, Tribute, Media Arts, Focus on the 7th Art, and Time Recaptured – alongside a variety of special events, including an International Market conference, a Children’s Screening, activities at cultural hubs such as the Montreal Fine Arts Museum, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the PHI Centre, and, fittingly, art exhibitions such as Diane Obomsawin’s animated Zon’Arts, Gerald Fox’s multimedia work, Ed Pien’s video installations, a tribute to Jan Peacock, and more. The festival’s opening night brings questions of artistic censorship into the spotlight with Jill Nicholls’ documentary The Fatwa – Salman’s Story, which looks at the complex cultural and political background to the death sentence and exile of author Salman Rushdie, while music is the stuff of closing night’s Road Movie, A Portrait of John Adams, an in-depth portrait of the well-known and played American composer.

Between these different bookends are films that are often as artistic as the subject matter they cover, whether examining the life of famed visual artists (Joan Miro: The Ladder of Escape, Edward Hopper and the Blank Canvas, Art 21, featuring Marina Abramovic) and art movements, choreographers (Merce Cunningham, la danse en héritage), writers (The Dreams of William Golding, Frankenstein: A Modern Myth), or musicians (Amy Winehouse – The Day She Came to Dingle, John Cage – Journeys in Sound).

This year’s tribute section is dedicated to filmmaker Gerald Fox, with screenings of 12 of his prize-winning films, while the work of many lesser-known and up-and-coming filmmakers can be found in every section of the program, especially in the more experimental films of Media Art and in Focus on the 7th Art, where films about films and filmmaking shed light on how film fits into artistic canons. Throughout the festival’s run, see films that look at art, music, design and literature’s place in history and films that delve into completely modern-day issues, some even speculating on the future – regardless of subject, the films’ present-day resonance is why they’re found at this festival.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreal-international-festival-of-films-on-art-2013/feed/2MONTREAL STOP MOTION FESTIVAL 2012http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreal-stop-motion-film-festival-2012/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreal-stop-motion-film-festival-2012/#commentsThu, 18 Oct 2012 21:36:19 +0000Robyn Faddenhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/?p=7488Fall is appropriately film festival season in Montreal and elsewhere in Canada, but, true to form, Montreal adds its own twist to the usual film fest fare: the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival, October 19-21, welcomes kids and adults alike to revel in the meticulous art of stop-motion animation.

]]>Fall is appropriately film festival season in Montreal and elsewhere in Canada, but, true to form, Montreal adds its own twist to the usual film fest fare: the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival, October 19-21, welcomes kids and adults alike to revel in the meticulous art of stop-motion animation…

Four years ago, the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival became the first film festival in the world to focus only on stop-motion films: films that involve moving physical objects by hand and taking individual shots of each incremental change. Now the festival is a showcase not only for new and rare films – the fest will screen over 70 films from 20 countries – but features talks by filmmakers and animation professionals, two free (yes, free!) family-oriented film screenings, and a chance for anyone to take a crack at using Stop Motion Pro software.

CoInciding with the final weekend of the Festival du Nouveau Cinema, the Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival offers films that are a little different in their creative and production processes. The fest begins by looking at that difference on Friday night with a talk by Mark Shapiro of animation studio Laika, creators of the film Coraline. Shapiro takes us behind the scenes of the handcrafted feature film ParaNorman and is even joined “live” by the animated characters of Norman and Coraline.

Saturday and Sunday mornings begin at 11 a.m. with family-friendly free screenings of short, funny and captivating films selected from the festival’s official competition line-up. Screenings are followed by hands-on sessions with Stop Motion Pro software, where animators will be providing pro tips on how the software can make the intensive process of stop-motion animation a little easier. The afternoons and evenings are filled with competition screenings of juried films from professional, academic and independent filmmakers from around the world – winners will be announced on Sunday evening.

A few star experts of the stop-motion animation world will also be on hand during the weekend. With his puppets literally in hand, Wallace & Gromit Creative Director Merlin Crossingham will talk on Saturday evening about his career, his animation process, creating good stop-motion characters, and working with Aardman Animations studio. On Sunday afternoon, independent animator and teacher Chris Walsh leads a seminar the delves into the history and how-to of stop-motion, from Ray Harryhausen to Jan Svankmajer, and beyond.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreal-stop-motion-film-festival-2012/feed/25 FILMS TO CATCH AT THE MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESThttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/5-films-to-catch-at-the-montreal-world-film-fest/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/5-films-to-catch-at-the-montreal-world-film-fest/#commentsTue, 21 Aug 2012 20:18:45 +0000/blog/?p=6983There was a time when the Montreal World Film Festival was bigger than any other other film festival in Canada, when the stars wore out the red carpets here at Place des Arts and the Cinema Imperial. But in recent years, our MWFF has distinguished itself as the place for young filmmakers to introduce their work to a wider audience, and for films from around the planet to strut their stuff on the world stage...

]]>There was a time when the Montreal World Film Festival was bigger than any other other film festival in Canada, when the stars wore out the red carpets here at Place des Arts and the Cinema Imperial. But in recent years, our MWFF has distinguished itself as the place for young filmmakers to introduce their work to a wider audience, and for films from around the planet to strut their stuff on the world stage…

The best thing about the Montreal World Film Festival is that it’s entirely democratic: Their staff refuses, in press releases or elsewhere, to favour any films above any others – so their offerings are always a cinephilic grab-bag from which great surprises can sometimes be extracted.

Still, with 212 features, including 110 world premieres, 16 medium-length movies and 144 shorts, it would be easy to get lost in the mix, and with reasonable ticket prices ($10 each, $70 for a book of ten), it makes sense to take some risks. So, without further ado, here are five sure bets at the MWFF. Dive in!

1) This year, the MWFF is bucking its tradition of having a Quebec film open the festival – instead, Million Dollar Crocodile, a horror movie about a hulking crocodile that attacks Beijing, will be the fest’s opener. Perhaps this is a nod to the Chinese film market that will also be in town at the fest.

2) Krsto Papić’s Flower Square is a Croatian film about a family’s relationship with the Mafia – should be something different, and the relatively new film industry in Croatia has some interesting offerings.

3) Two Jacks is Hollywood’s contribution to star power at this year’s MWFF. It stars Sienna Miller and Billy Zane, as well as Danny Huston and his son Jack, in this film about a director’s return to Los Angeles to reignite his career.

4) Babek Aliassa’s Halal Butcher Shop is the only film in competition in the festival that is from Quebec, showcasing this province’s multicultural identity. The movie tells the story of two Muslim immigrants who decide to try to open a business in the city.

5) Comme un Homme/Bad Seeds: Iconic French actor Charles Berling stars in this story of two teenagers who kidnap their professor.

The fun of the MWFF is finding your own way to some onscure film discoveries, so this list is only a beginning. As we say in Montreal, bon cinema!

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/5-films-to-catch-at-the-montreal-world-film-fest/feed/3CAFE DE FLORE BRINGS VANESSA PARADIS TO MONTREALhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/cafe-de-flore-brings-vanessa-paradis-to-montreal/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/cafe-de-flore-brings-vanessa-paradis-to-montreal/#commentsWed, 14 Sep 2011 17:25:06 +0000/blog/?p=5044Café de Flore is the eagerly awaited movie from celebrated Montreal director Jean-Marc Vallée. Vallée, director of C.R.A.Z.Y. (one of the best Montreal films ever made) and The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Paul Bettany, is bringing his latest film to his hometown of Montreal for a premiere at our city’s most glamorous cinema, the Imperial. The red-carpet affair and the premiere party afterwards promises to be glam—the star of Café de Flore is French singer/actress/bombshell Vanessa Paradis, wife of Johnny Depp… Café de Flore, an uncommon love story that spans decades, is told in a cross-cut back-and-forth style that showcases two very different landscapes—1960s Montmartre, where Vanessa Paradis’ character is a single mom of a young boy with Down syndrome, and present-day Montreal, where hometown actor Kevin Parent is navigating a thorny midlife crisis. The movie talks about that but what comes out is love, the power of love, the goodness of love and the destruction of love in all its forms. “The script had me captivated and I lived very beautiful moments on set,” says Paradis. “I saw the film for the first time yesterday, and it was very clear to me that it’s about love, in... / Read More →

]]>Café de Flore is the eagerly awaited movie from celebrated Montreal director Jean-Marc Vallée. Vallée, director of C.R.A.Z.Y. (one of the best Montreal films ever made) and The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Paul Bettany, is bringing his latest film to his hometown of Montreal for a premiere at our city’s most glamorous cinema, the Imperial. The red-carpet affair and the premiere party afterwards promises to be glam—the star of Café de Flore is French singer/actress/bombshell Vanessa Paradis, wife of Johnny Depp…

Café de Flore, an uncommon love story that spans decades, is told in a cross-cut back-and-forth style that showcases two very different landscapes—1960s Montmartre, where Vanessa Paradis’ character is a single mom of a young boy with Down syndrome, and present-day Montreal, where hometown actor Kevin Parent is navigating a thorny midlife crisis. The movie talks about that but what comes out is love, the power of love, the goodness of love and the destruction of love in all its forms.

“The script had me captivated and I lived very beautiful moments on set,” says Paradis. “I saw the film for the first time yesterday, and it was very clear to me that it’s about love, in all its forms—there is a bit of each character in all of us. It’s a movie that makes you think, and feel, and dialogue—while we were shooting, I felt inspired and full of oxygen and I relived that a bit last night while seeing the movie.”

Paradis says that she was attracted to the project by the script, as well as the prospect of working with Vallée, who also wrote the script. She says he’s a director who’s “all heart, as good at the emotional side of a story and the technical aspects of shooting a film,” and that she is looking forward to premiering the film in Montreal, a city she loves.

“The movie was born here, and it comes out in France a lot later,” she says. “The premiere in Montreal is the first time we’ll all be together with the Canadian cast and crew, it’ll be great.”

Vallée, for his part, says that though he adores shooting in Paris, he was happy to film half of his story at home in Montreal, where he was delighted to be able to ride a Bixi to work on-set—a rare privilege, he says.

“I had to shoot in Plateau Mont-Royal because it was a perfect setting for this story,” says Vallée. “My characters live near Parc Lafontaine and I shot in the park with all the chairs on Roy and St. André. Ultimately, the Plateau Mont-Royal was perfect to establish these characters and to setup a landscape that was totally different from the scenes in France. I still live there, I love it there, and it’s where my characters can flourish. The other place I’d like to live and work, is in the Mile-End, because you have Café Olympico and Genevieve Grandbois with her caramels a fleur de sel. Oh yes.”

The Café de Flore premiere and red carpet is on September 14 at the Cinéma Impérial. The film opens in theatres on September 23.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/cafe-de-flore-brings-vanessa-paradis-to-montreal/feed/0FILM POP: A UNIQUELY MUSICAL FILM FESThttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/film-pop-a-uniquely-musical-film-fest/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/film-pop-a-uniquely-musical-film-fest/#commentsTue, 13 Sep 2011 16:34:14 +0000/blog/?p=5026In a city replete with film festivals, Film Pop, the little sister of Montreal mega music-festival Pop Montreal, is in a class all its own. The folks at Pop are allergic to the conventional, and this is evident in their film festival, which is nothing like other film festivals—more like a series of film “happenings” around town at the same time as all the other things that are happening at Pop time, only on screens. As one might imagine, the films shown at Film Pop tend to be music-related—last year, they premiered Look at What the Light Did Now, a splendid documentary about TO rock femme fatale Leslie Feist. This year, they’re continuing their swath of top-shelf rock docs with another filmic tribute to a goddess of modern sound: PJ Harvey, whose new album, Let England Shake, is accompanied by a series of 12 videos shot by war photographer Seamus Murphy. Vancouver’s punk scene is historically very loud, and also important—seminal bands like D.O.A. and S.N.F.U. have come out of British Columbia, as does Bloodied and Unbowed, a doc by Suzanne Tabata. Tabata and Randy Rampage of the band D.O.A. will be there for a post-screening Q&(D.O.)A. Another music-industry doc... / Read More →

]]>In a city replete with film festivals, Film Pop, the little sister of Montreal mega music-festival Pop Montreal, is in a class all its own. The folks at Pop are allergic to the conventional, and this is evident in their film festival, which is nothing like other film festivals—more like a series of film “happenings” around town at the same time as all the other things that are happening at Pop time, only on screens.

As one might imagine, the films shown at Film Pop tend to be music-related—last year, they premiered Look at What the Light Did Now, a splendid documentary about TO rock femme fatale Leslie Feist. This year, they’re continuing their swath of top-shelf rock docs with another filmic tribute to a goddess of modern sound: PJ Harvey, whose new album, Let England Shake, is accompanied by a series of 12 videos shot by war photographer Seamus Murphy.

Vancouver’s punk scene is historically very loud, and also important—seminal bands like D.O.A. and S.N.F.U. have come out of British Columbia, as does Bloodied and Unbowed, a doc by Suzanne Tabata. Tabata and Randy Rampage of the band D.O.A. will be there for a post-screening Q&(D.O.)A. Another music-industry doc not to be missed is Upside Down: The Creation Records Story, about the definitive indie U.K. label. As interesting an A-list attracton is Freaks in Love, which puports to be “25 years in the world of underground rock, as seen through the eyes of freakshow psych-punk band Alice Donut.”

For fans of doomed folk-singers, the Phil Ochs doc will be a big draw. The legendary singer/songwriter from the ‘60s and ‘70s finally has a doc to tell his life story, and how his creative energy and eventual demise were tied into the zeitgeist of a generation. The screening will be attended by Phil’s brother Michael Ochs, curator of the Michael Ochs Archive, the world’s most extensive collection of rock-show stills.

Also, do make sure to check out a screening of American photo/video artist Laurel Nakadate’s The Wolf Knife, an experimental feature film about the bored horniness of teenage girls, among other riveting topics. Nakadate best-known for her controversial 9/11 Girl Scout video, recently had her first solo show at Long Island’s storied MOMA PS1 and has been the focus of profiles in heavy-hitting pubs like The Economist.

Best of all, Film Pop is this year curated by Montreal’s own Kier-la Janisse, co-founder and owner of Blue Sunshine Psychotronic Film Space an amazing wonderland of movies where many of the Film Pop offerings will be shown, as well as slideshows by artists specially commissioned for the festival and an interesting double feature about outsider video artist R. Stevie Moore and a documentary about somebody throwing a beer bottle at Burton Cummings’ head in Winnipeg in the 1980s.

]]>http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/film-pop-a-uniquely-musical-film-fest/feed/1MONTREAL’S CLASSIC BOAT FESTIVALhttp://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreals-classic-boat-festival/
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/blog/montreals-classic-boat-festival/#commentsWed, 17 Aug 2011 11:55:16 +0000/blog/?p=4859Just when you thought festival season was over (and indeed the city has calmed down a lot), comes the mellowest and most maritime of all Montreal festivals: The Montreal Classic Boat Festival. Montreal is a major maritime port, and both our access to the open water (the magnificent St-Lawrence River) and our very own canal provide historical waterways perfect for a festival celebrating all sorts of classic boats. Sperry Top-Siders (who else?) will sponsor a stage down in the Old Port that will feature local acts such as celtic ensemble The Paddingtons, goofy girl group Les Gourmandes, Senegalese-Quebecoise singer Marième and more. Possibly the coolest thing about the festival is the roster of speakers they’ll have on hand: From Billy Rioux, who will recreate a 2000 km voyage from Baie-St-Paul to Niagara Falls on a Square-sailed raft, to Alain Boucher, who will detail the history of schooners on the St. Lawrence, to Michele Dagenais from the University of Montreal who’ll be talking about Montreal’s link to the river, to Michel Leboeuf, the St. Lawrence’s ambassador at the David Suzuki foundation, who’ll be describing the ecosystem of the river. There will also be practical talks about how to buy and restore... / Read More →

]]>Just when you thought festival season was over (and indeed the city has calmed down a lot), comes the mellowest and most maritime of all Montreal festivals: The Montreal Classic Boat Festival.

Montreal is a major maritime port, and both our access to the open water (the magnificent St-Lawrence River) and our very own canal provide historical waterways perfect for a festival celebrating all sorts of classic boats.

Sperry Top-Siders (who else?) will sponsor a stage down in the Old Port that will feature local acts such as celtic ensemble The Paddingtons, goofy girl group Les Gourmandes, Senegalese-Quebecoise singer Marième and more. Possibly the coolest thing about the festival is the roster of speakers they’ll have on hand: From Billy Rioux, who will recreate a 2000 km voyage from Baie-St-Paul to Niagara Falls on a Square-sailed raft, to Alain Boucher, who will detail the history of schooners on the St. Lawrence, to Michele Dagenais from the University of Montreal who’ll be talking about Montreal’s link to the river, to Michel Leboeuf, the St. Lawrence’s ambassador at the David Suzuki foundation, who’ll be describing the ecosystem of the river. There will also be practical talks about how to buy and restore a classic boat, and the Blue Route, a kayak route around the island of Montreal.

The fest offers a series of movies in their Ciné-Maritime programme, most of them documentaries about various maritime feats, including Boxed In Under The Stars, about two French brothers who cross the ocean without any directional instruments, and Ice Water in the Veins, about a famly who crosses the St. Lawrence in an ice canoe.

And last but not least, the most inventive attraction of the festival: A guided “catastrophe walk” around the Old Port, in which many Montreal-centric maritime disasters will be examined. Kind of like a ghost walk, only better because it’s real.